The Second Fragment
Prince Vlad stared at the royal palace with bloodshot eyes. Just beyond those walls waited the beautiful flower he longed to crush. One more step and he could seize her, ruin her to his heart’s content. The mere thought of tearing apart that fragile mind and defiling her soft body sent a thrill through him so sharp it nearly drove him mad with pleasure. It was the only thing that had carried him this far.
Yet the fantasy that had seemed within reach now hit a wall. The confident assault on the palace had slowly turned against them. The Demon God worshippers he had trusted were already corpses littering the ground. He had offered every last follower as a sacrifice to summon a horde of monsters, but more than half had been slaughtered by the Fighter Hero. The rest had almost broken through the defensive line—only to fail in the end.
Where the hell are those Demonic Humans?!
The worshippers had spoken of their “great brothers.” One was a repulsive walking skeleton. The other was a grotesque giant of a man wielding a greatsword. They had boasted the pair would sweep away anyone in their path. Instead the skeletal Demonic Human had vanished without a trace, and the greatsword-wielding one had been completely shut down by the shield-bearing Guardian Hero.
For an attack launched with such confidence, the results were pathetically meager.
“Advance! Push forward!”
“Ten paces forward!”
“Judge the foul cultists!”
The palace soldiers, having switched from defense to offense, marched in tight formation. Unless one possessed overwhelming power capable of shattering an entire army at once, stopping such a massive, disciplined force was impossible—no matter how desperately the Demon God worshippers resisted.
“Fuck…”
The momentum had completely flipped. They had lost. The moment that realization hit, Vlad’s heart hammered wildly in his chest.
He had given everything to the cultists just to reach this place and claim the sister waiting for him. One more step and he would finally have her—his lovely, delicate sister. The thought that it was all about to crumble into nothing filled him with blinding rage.
“Goddamn it. Damn it. Damn it! Damn it!!”
He screamed at the sky, then, unable to contain his fury, suddenly spurred his horse forward. His followers believed he possessed some incredible martial prowess. After all, he had returned victorious again and again from battlefields teeming with monsters and demons. But that had only been possible because the Demon God worshippers had supported him with everything they had. In truth, Prince Vlad’s own strength was barely equal to an ordinary soldier. He was nothing more than a greenhorn who couldn’t even defeat a single proper knight.
So when such a man charged in blind rage, sword raised high, the outcome was inevitable.
Thud!
Whinny!
“Gahk!”
A lone madman charging a perfectly formed battle line. The palace soldiers were elites; they didn’t hesitate. Instead of fearing the oncoming horse, they leveled their spears. With practiced ease they stopped the mount and yanked the rider down.
The prince who tumbled from the saddle flailed for a moment before staggering to his feet. All around him, the Demon God worshippers and their monsters had been wiped out. Nothing remained but their trampled corpses and the slick sheen of blood.
“Stand aside! I must go to my sister! Anyone who blocks me will die!”
Vlad swung his sword wildly, hammering it against the soldiers’ shields. But the formation that had held firm even against monsters could not be broken by a single unskilled man.
“Kill him!”
At the command, the soldiers closed in. They had no idea the man before them was a prince, and even if they had, it wouldn’t have mattered. Anyone attacking them was an enemy of the king. Prince or not, they would cut him down first and ask questions later.
Shields pinned his movements completely. Spears thrust through the gaps.
Several wet thunks sounded as blades sank into flesh. When the soldiers stepped back, Prince Vlad was collapsing, pouring blood.
“Guh-hahk!!”
Blood gushed from the spear wounds as he screamed. The palace was right there—just within arm’s reach. His sister, the woman he desired more than anything, the beautiful flower he had dreamed of, was right there. He needed to go to her, to take her, but this cursed body would no longer obey.
“Mine! My woman! My flower! Aaaargh!!”
The more he thrashed, the faster the blood poured out. Even as his mind grew hazy from blood loss, Vlad kept reaching desperately toward the palace.
“I have to… go. I must… go. My sister… she’s waiting for me…”
The woman he had wanted to violate, to possess completely. With her so close, Prince Vlad could go no farther. His vision blurred. Strength left his limbs. The world grew cold.
It was unfair. Frustrating. Resentful. He couldn’t end like this.
King Carlos II would probably have called him insane for thinking so, but Vlad didn’t care. He simply felt too wronged by the world.
“I will… definitely… take her… My sister… I will…”
With those final words, the prince’s pupils slowly lost focus. The hand he had struggled to keep raised fell limply to the ground.
A wet cough. A gasp.
His body convulsed once, then went still. The madman who had tried to overturn the entire continent simply to claim his sister met an utterly pathetic end.
It should have ended there.
But the moment his breath stopped, a sinister crimson light erupted from Vlad’s corpse. The glow greedily devoured the blood and bodies scattered around it, feeding on the lingering resentment and ugliness left in the vessel. At last, it birthed a true calamity before the palace walls.
“Huh…?”
Gerard, who had been locked in a fierce struggle with the greatsword Demonic Human, turned his head at a sudden ominous premonition. The Demonic Human should have exploited that tiny opening, yet instead he forcefully shoved Gerard back, as if eager to create distance and flee.
Screeech.
Keeping his greatsword trained on Gerard, the Demonic Human smiled.
“We may not have destroyed the palace, but we’ve still accomplished half our goal.”
“Half?”
The instant Gerard echoed the word, a jet-black flash of light shot into the sky. Dark clouds gathered at once. A chilling wind carrying an eerie aura began to blow. The sight alone was enough to raise goosebumps. The nauseating presence that followed made one’s stomach turn.
Instinctively sensing that nothing good would come of this, Gerard launched himself forward. His duty had shifted from holding the line to a new priority: he had to eliminate this Demonic Human quickly and investigate that light.
Which, from the enemy’s perspective, meant there was no longer any need to keep fighting.
The greatsword Demonic Human blocked Gerard’s path and burst into wild laughter.
“Kwa-ha-ha-ha!! So your heart’s finally racing, is it?! Take it easy! You weren’t the only one waiting!”
“What are you—”
“Ah-ha-ha! Our great and exalted being has finally accepted all the sacrifices and descended once more!”
BOOOOM—!
The moment he finished speaking, a crimson-black pillar of light fell from the sky to the earth. The ground shook. The heavens roared. A thick red mist that looked like blood spread in all directions.
Before the soldiers could even react, the mist engulfed them.
“Uwaaaaagh!!”
The troops who had just been seizing victory began screaming and collapsing. This was no mere panic. Every one of them was writhing in genuine, excruciating pain.
CRASH!!
Gerard clenched his teeth and slammed his shield into the Demonic Human. The Guardian Hero had completely abandoned defense and was swinging his shield like a weapon. This was the perfect chance to defeat a Hero.
The man was clearly agitated. Now was the time to crush him.
Yet the greatsword Demonic Human only blocked a few strikes before leaping backward again. He had even seen through Gerard’s feigned impatience.
“Looks like today’s fun ends here. Our newly descended lord seems quite exhausted.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, crimson-black light began radiating from his body. Gerard charged desperately, but was repelled helplessly. He crashed into the ground and barely managed to rise.
When he looked up, the Demonic Human was already floating slowly into the sky.
“Where do you think you’re going?! You bony bastard!”
Daisy’s shout rang out from afar. The charred skeletal Demonic Human was being drawn upward by the same crimson light.
“We’re not finished yet!”
Ninth-circle magic erupted from both of Daisy’s hands—one a blazing fire dragon, the other an ice serpent. Both spells hurtled toward the skeletal Demonic Human, but they disintegrated before reaching even halfway.
Between the two Demonic Humans, a third figure slowly revealed itself.
At first glance it looked like Prince Vlad, but Vlad was already dead. This was not the prince. It was something wearing his corpse like a shell, having inherited every last ounce of the dead man’s twisted desire, rage, and thirst. It was another embodiment of the world’s malice.
Whoosh—!
Iris, who had been fighting the high-grade monsters, shot into the air. She attacked the unidentified man protected by the crimson light. The moment her fist flew forward, she was sent flying back.
“Daisy! Do something!”
“I’m on it!”
Daisy began preparing another ninth-circle spell. The three magnificent magics that had nearly annihilated the skeletal Demonic Human. But before she could finish casting, the enemies’ forms started to blur.
“Don’t you dare run!”
Iris threw another punch. A terrifying shockwave of qi screamed toward the light. It shattered uselessly against the barrier.
“…”
Prince Vlad—no, the second Fragment of the Demon God—slowly turned to gaze at the royal palace. Though it was not his own desire, it was what the shell he wore had craved so desperately. The Fragment clutched its chest and spoke in a low voice.
“Do not worry. One day everything will return to your side. All of it will burn away and disappear.”
With those final words, the second Fragment of the Demon God and the two Demonic Humans vanished from the palace without a trace.